This invention relates to a ratchet-type wrench for driving a component, particularly a screw or a nut, the head of which has a hexagonal drive profile.
Patent Application PCT/FR 96/00 963, in the name of the Applicant Company, describes a ratchet-type wrench, which is particular easy and stable to use and which drives a hexagonal head with good protection.
However, in this known ratchet-type wrench, the backing-off movement of the ratchet between two driving positions extends angularly over 60.degree., whereas certain working environments do not offer enough empty space for movement of such an amplitude.
Ratchet-type wrenches with a backing-off movement on the order of 30.degree. have been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,020, but with serious drawbacks. Specifically, if the wrench is a one-piece wrench, the user has to shift the wrench radially with respect to the head in order to reach the second driving position, which is something that is difficult to achieve. Such shifting can be avoided only at the cost of adding an elastically loaded sliding finger.